TALE 29 - Polar bearing...

She was a Neophiliac
She knew that about herself
Easily bored with routine 
She kept her options open 
And her outlook broad
She freelanced... Of course
And excelled in whatever she got into...
She left her parents house as soon as she gained the confidence about her financial independence 
Found herself a pretty decent apartment near the seafront 
Decorated it with awesome aesthetic sensibility creating cosy nooks n corners of blissful comfort
A tastefully done up home with things that she fancied and picked up from all over the world
The decor kept changing every few months
She d pack her bags any time n leave her home for a backpacking trip near nature
Sometimes the sea, at times the forests, seldom trips to the mountains n a few to the valleys... Deserts pyramids and tombs fascinated her the most...
She kept changing her priorities...
From travelling to friends to shopping , earning money, spending it on family or going in for a meditation retreat...
No day was same...ever...
Dressed to please no one but herself, one could find her dazzling in an evening gown, dapper in a formal skirt suit, gypsy skirts with hoops in her ears or the LBD with killer stilettoes and yet again in an ethnic nine yards with the nose pin et all...
She was the spice in her life...
From atrocious street food experiments to eating at 5 star cruises she had got it all covered in 35 years of her lifetime...
She never got into a serious relationship for the fear of monotony 
He of age 30 was a 9 to 5 government employed clerk who stayed in a chawl in a single room with his brother his wife and kid 
He travelled to work by train...
He knew he was an absolute mediocre with extremely ordinary ambitions of a suburban one BHK flat a working wife who can support him financially and a child or two according to their financial status
A vacation within India every alternate year and a yearly visit to their family deity made him happy...
He wished for his children to be educated with merits.
His dreams about kids were purely academic and job oriented...
He loved his set pattern of living and any change made him off his hoof...
He felt out of place if there was any change around...
Long sleeved pastel 'gents' colored shirts and dark colored tailored 'pants' was his dress code for life
Bata for shoes and Cambridge for clothes VIP for bags was his formula of power dressing...
He was a vegetarian by birth and he believed to keep it so...
He aspired to marry a graduate girl within his subcaste and blushed at the thoughts of honeymoon...
He had started to meet prospective brides to be for an arranged marriage...
They had no chances of meeting under any circumstances otherwise However they still happened to sleep in beds placed side by side in a blood donation camp.
She donated blood that day on a whim...
He donated out of his routine yearly plan of blood donation that he stuck to since he was 18... 
She was restless throughout
He was calm
They did not speak while at it...
They came out of the camp together... 
Just when she lost her balance...
He took hold of her...
Carried her back made her have another cup of tea n biscuits
They got talking...
She was incidentally travelling to town for a story telling session with an NGO near his office
She gave him a lift...
Impressed by her driving skills and her plush car he loved the feel of Air conditioned car perfume and the ambience that African beats playing on her stereo created against the backdrop of sweat covered pulsating mumbai traffic...
They were amused by each others life 
So much so that for the first time ever he dared give out his own no.when she asked for it...
They kept in touch...
Ocassionally met for some tea and brun maska at the iranis or for some moccha at a café
They imbibed some of each others life nuggets getting surprised at every meet 
They thoroughly loved to talk with each other and chatted for hours about the contrasts that they saw...
No... They did not fall for each other...
They became close friends...
Both of them glad for donating blood that day...
They found each other as strong supports 
The story ends here...
He is happily married 
She is still rocking it on her front
They don't get to meet that often given his settled status and EMI pressure of the suburban flat home loan.
His wife has been introduced to her and being from a background that she is finds their friendship unsettling and abnormal...
Even if they don't meet for months,
they have a fond place in each others heart 
A place which only they can understand...
Friends for life...
‪#‎notsotinytales‬
- Prajakta Sathe